DVD Review: RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN

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RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 94 minutes, audio commentary, pop fact track, six featurettes

VIDEO: 1.75:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English, French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Surround

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

STUDIO: Walt Disney Pictures/ Disney DVD

RELEASE DATE: 3-10-2009

ESCAPE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN was a hit with audiences and RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN was promptly made. It is entertaining as the first one only to be hampered by a script not as good as the first film’s. Who in their right mind would leave two kids in Los Angeles without parental guidance (yeah, I’m talking to their Uncle Bene)? What results is a series of events that leads to Tony to being mentally controlled by a device that was made by an egomaniacal scientist (Christopher Lee in a low point role) and a bankrupt woman (Betty Davis in one of those what was she thinking roles). Tia ends up with a gang of kids who skip school (because they think school isn’t for tough kids). They go out to find Tony and rescue him. RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN is carried by the characters and the energy of the film while the script is a stinker. Just don't get me started on the dumb Truant officer nicknamed YoYo.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Director John Hough and the stars of the first one are back for another audio commentary. Also another Pop-Up Fun Facts track can be played with the film. MAKING THE RETURN TRIP is a making of featurette while THE GANGS’S BACK IN TOWN is an interview with the people who played the kid gang. The real gem of the extras is a Spanish (with English subtitles) interview with Christopher Lee from 1978. Rounding out the extras are a 1978 Studio Album, DISNEY KIDS WITH POWERS featurette (a montage clip featurtte of kids with powers in Disney films)), and “THE EYES HAVE IT”(a cartoon). As for extras for this one and the first film, they are basically carry-overs from the previous out-of-print DVDs excluding the Pop-Up fact track.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Almost fun as ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, the sequel suffers from a bad script.

This DVD Review is (c) 3-17-2009 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com